As much as I love the books, I regret to say that all of Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. This includes all of the characters except for Ryua (who's mine) most of the places, and an awful lot of the spells. Oh, and if you see something that looks like one of your stories, I'm really, really sorry. I don't mean to plagiarize. I've just read a lot of really cool fanfics, and they melt into my brain, but I'll try not to use any of it. Tell me if I do, okay?

A Trip Down Knockturn Alley

Ryua was thouroughly excited. Just because she was nicer than her family didn't mean she wasn't fascinated by the Dark Arts, and Father was taking the twins on his errands. They would be doing their regular school shopping afterwards, but first, they were going to Knockturn Alley, the place with the darkest reputation this part of the wizarding world. Ryua dressed in a dark green summer dress with a long silver vest over top, sweeping her hair up into a dignified (booooring!) bun, and skipped down the stairs to meet her family in the Floo room. Draco, for some reason, always took more time than Ryua to get ready to go, but would hopefully show up before Father got too impatient.

Although the aristocratic man tried to always act unconcerned and dignified, he was apparently getting worried about the Ministry's raids. Ryua knew what kinds of things Father kept hidden in his various caches about the estates, and also knew they would be highly embarrassing, to say the least, if they were to be found. Even though most of the poisons weren't anywhere in her potions manuals, she could decipher enough of the ingredients to know they were used to cause all sorts of nasty, terrifying, cruel effects resulting in death. And that wasn't even talking about the painful looking instruments hung caringly around the dark walls. Probably left over from the Death Eater days, Ryua had always thought. She had found two major vaults of the stuff, and doubted that was the extent of it. Draco ran in to the room, interrupting Ryua's musings, and they all departed through the fireplace.

They arrived in a small, dark room that had an evilly luxurious feel about it. As Ryua and Draco filed out behind their Father, the luxury left abrubtly, replaced by filth, but the evil feeling remained. There were shops full of barrels of dangerous looking things that Ryua was just itching to look at, but Father steered them directly to a dingy place called "Borgin's and Burke's" Ah, well, this looks just as good. "Touch nothing, children," Lucius' voice came just as Draco was about to pick up a rather dangerous looking glass eye.

Draco was apparently over his cowering phase now, as he whined, "I thought you said you would by me a present..." Draco's voice faded into the background as Ryua started to explore the shop. Actually, they had both turned twelve on August 1st, and their parents had promised a shopping trip for a birthday present each. Ryua already had her mind set on a pet. Her owl was useful, (and actually kind of cute) but it couldn't be cuddled. She had debated for a long time about it, and decided a snake would be the best thing. Not only did she love them, but her father couldn't make noise about it being unsuitable, and Draco would think twice about torturing something with teeth, intelligence, and reflexes ten times better than his own.

Suddenly Ryua stopped dead in her tracks. A large cabinet in the corner with one door slightly ajar had drawn her gaze for a split second. As she looked again, she saw what had caught her earlier, a flash of green. Draco was also headed towards the cabinet, although not with the same purpose Ryua had. He was about to reach for the door when Ryua said, "Ooh, Draco, come see these opals! Merlin's beard, nineteen muggles..." Draco pushed her out of the way, but Ryua didn't mind in the slightest. Draco was distracted from the cabinet, and she walked unobtrusively over to it. Sure enough, even though she had never seen them this close, or without glasses, only one person had eyes that shade of green. Ryua winked at Harry Potter and leaned on the closed door, just in case Draco came back to snoop.

Two minutes later, the Malfoys left to meet Narcissa to split up for birthday shopping. Ryua and her mother went off to the new pet shop next to Ollivander's , leaving Draco and Father to pick something for her brother's spoiled taste. The cheerful witch behind the counter led them back to the reptile room, dodging a mean tempered orange cat which attempted to rip them to shreds. Ryua wandered the snake cages, looking at the tiny thread snakes, up to a gigantic boa, and snakes of almost every color and size in between. She settled on a young albino King Cobra, with a four foot long body, translucent and yellow scales, and clear red eyes framed by a white, yellow, and pink patterned hood. She walked out with her mother, stroking the magically smart reptile looped about her shoulders, and headed to the floo room. Draco and Father would be meeting them home later.

Author's Note: Sorry, I'd forgotten this chapter wasn't completely done yet, so I've finished editing it now. I'll try not to do that again...